cor·pus /'kôrpəs/
n. pl. cor·po·ra (-pr-)
1. A large collection of writings of a specific kind or on a specific subject.
2. A collection of writings or recorded remarks used for linguistic analysis.
3. The main part of a bodily structure or organ.
//Reviews of art. Art and language. Art and the body.

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

“I wanted to create an
exhibition that interrogates the act of listening itself, rather than merely
its aural objects,” says Sam Belinfante of the group show that he has curated
as the latest in the Hayward Touring Curatorial Open series. Adamant that this
is not a “sound show”, but something theatrical, involving intricate
choreography and bleeding between the works on display, Belinfante took time to
discuss each work’s placement with its artist. A visual artist, musician and a
student of the voice, Belinfante’s practices feed into one another and the
result is a self-reflexive, engaging and impressive show, featuring some of the
key figures in aural art today. But don’t be misled: not all the works included
make a noise. Studio International met with Belinfante at Baltic 39 for a tour
of the show and to talk about the role of listening in the visual arts and the
particular challenges associated with mounting such an exhibition.

In 1980, Maggi Hambling was the
first artist-in-residence at the National Gallery. A controversial character,
whose public sculptures have divided opinion and who is known for her outspoken
opinions, she is also a passionate painter. Despite being almost 70, she considers
herself still to be learning about the joys of oil paint and feels lucky not to
be in a profession from which she is compelled to retire. With two concurrent
shows, Walls of Water – the paintings and the monotypes – at the National
Gallery and Marlborough Fine Art respectively, and a further exhibition and
book due in March 2015, Hambling invited Studio International to her south London
studio to talk about the sea, life, death and love.

Sunday, 14 December 2014

“I am a member of the London Communists and can fight as
well as any man.” It was with these words that Felicia Browne (1904-1936) demanded
to be enlisted to fight on the Saragossa front after witnessing violence and
the outbreak of war while in Spain in 1936 for the People’s Olympiad. The only
British woman to play a combatant role in the conflict and, tragically, the first
of more than 500 British volunteers to die in battle when she was killed by
Fascists during a mission to blow up a rebel munitions train, Browne went on to
become a potent symbol of the fight against Fascism, for which she had paid the
ultimate sacrifice.

After her death, comrades found on her body a sketchbook full
of drawings. These went on to be exhibited in London, raising funds for Spanish
relief campaigns – thus Browne’s involvement in the battle against Fascism
continued even after her death. Her efforts especially resonated with other
women artists of her generation, encouraging them to stand up for what
they believed in,create poster campaigns and
independent artworks against Fascism, and even to enlist to fight on the ground
in the years leading up to the Second World War.

Some of Browne’s sketches are on display in the exhibition Conscience
and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War, which runs at Pallant
House Gallery, Chichester, until 15 February 2015. www.pallant.org.uk

“It is really important that my work is from a black gay
female,” says upcoming performer and artist Jade Pollard-Crowe. “Society sees
‘issues’ such as race, sexuality and gender as separate entities when, in
reality, they combine to build our identities. I identify as a Lesbian (my
sexuality) and Queer (my gender). A new personal word I’ve come up with is Stag
– stud and, well, you work it out!”

DIVA first came across Jade at the RVT 150th birthday
celebrations this summer, where she took part in the Duckie Summer School and
performed a slick show, playing on her naturally androgynous physicality. “Many
of us inhabit what I would describe as ‘the in between’,” she says. “I
naturally feel masculine whilst claiming my femininity. I have learnt to
embrace both energies. A close friend’s boyfriend confessed he feels I suit a
beard better than he does!”

Jade’s performances are highly political and she’s been
strongly influenced by queer theory and race politics. She studied Fine Art at
Sheffield Hallam University, where her first performance, Boi-lesque –
Performance 1, involved drag, yellow PVC, fierce music and a strip down to her
binding and packed underwear.

Jade is both an artist and a performer. “The artist is who I
am, it’s integral to my being and what keeps me going. The performer is my body
as a medium utilised to express concerns I have.” And since those concerns affect
us all, Jade is certainly a Stag to watch.

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

“His glory is forgotten, and his vices exaggerated.” – Princess Dorothea von Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador to England, talking about her friend, George IV

Although holding a Masters in Jewellery from the Royal College of Art, it is for her photography that Maisie Broadhead (b1980) has become increasingly recognised and valued over the past few years. Drawing inspiration from Old Masters, she reworks well-known paintings, exploring their narratives, often with a contemporary twist. In 2012, her work was included in the National Gallery’s blockbuster show, Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present. Her latest project, Peepers (2014), is currently on display in the sumptuous Music Room at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, as the winner of Pavilion Contemporary 3. A larger-than-life photographic installation, the commission is playful, beautiful, thought-provoking and tinged with a sadness as the story of George IV (1762-1830), the Prince responsible for the building of the extravagant Pavilion, is revealed. Faces, in full 18th century regalia, pressed up close against the glass, loom down on visitors, gazing at them as they wander about. Women whisper, an older man looks on disapprovingly, a child stares nonchalantly. In Peepers, the gaze of the visitor is turned back upon itself.

Gareth
Phillips (b.1979) may not be a native Welsh speaker, but his identity as a dyn cymraeg (Welshman) could not be stronger, and, having
grown up in the seaside town of Penarth, the Welsh coast forms an integral part
of his life. A graduate of the University of Wales, Newport, where he studied
Documentary Photography, Phillips now works as a freelance photographer,
regularly commissioned by a number of newspapers and magazines. Nevertheless,
he considers his photographic approach to embrace both the documentary and the
artistic and he prefers not to be boxed in by any particular label. ‘Having the
freedom to produce without limitations is what excites me as a photographer,’
he says.

From
2012-13, Phillips was working on a project called Y Tir Newydd
(The New Land), ‘an artistic translation of the furthest points of the Welsh
Landscape’. This flowed seamlessly into his current project, Hiraeth, conceived and produced for Ffotogallery’s 2014
summer showcase, Wish You Were Here, a triennial
series of exhibitions and events seeking to nurture and support the work of
early career, Wales-based photographic artists.

About Me

Art writer and editor with background as an academic linguist. Assistant Editor at Art Quarterly (Art Fund) and Web Editor for AICA. Former Deputy Editor at State media and Arts Editor at DIVA magazine. Regular contributor to Studio International, Photomonitor, Elephant and the Mail on Sunday. Member of the NUJ, WiJ and AICA. NCTJ qualified.